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Six programs at Royalty Centre will be uprooted in early June 1999 and relocated to the new Aerospace and Industrial Technology Centre in Slemon Park, Summerside. Brian McMillan, executive director of program operations for Holland College, said the programs, containing 65 students, which will be moving are: Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (one program, one-year), Machinist (one-year), Electromechanical Technology (two-years), Facility Maintenance (one-year) and the two electrical programs -- Construction Electrical (one year) and Industrial Electrical (two-years). "What's happening is basically this -- the college is setting up a new aviation and trade centre at Slemon Park," McMillan said. "This is a whole new facility with state-of-the-art classrooms, its own small hangar and it allows us to integrate some of the trade programs with some of the aviation programs." The Aircraft Maintainance Technician program (two-years), which is already located at Slemon Park and has about 35 students, will be moving into the new facility in January. "I don't think it's going to be totally completed by the end of December," he said, adding that the new centre will cover 52,000 sq. ft. "So given those circumstances, we won't be moving the trade programs out there until the latter part of May, early June, once the students are finished." McMillan said all the students who applied to the programs concerned were notified of the construction of a new facility before they applied. "We sent letters to tell them about what the plans were," McMillan said. "At one time, when it first got started, it looked like we may be able to move as of this last December. And then we were looking at trying to make a move this December, but they were contacted in May to let them know that at this point in time it looked like we might be trying to move those programs out to Slemon Park around Christmas time. But with where the construction is and the amount of time we need to make the change, we've decided to defer that until the end of May, early June." He added staff are excited about getting new equipment and working in this new facility. Staff are also getting some professional development training to deal with the new technology that's available. He said all these changes will definitely benefit the students. "We haven't had any complaints from staff. I think they see getting a new facility, and the rest of it, as a real plus." Obviously, McMillan said, some staff who live in the Charlottetown area won't like the fact that they will have to travel to Summerside, while the staff members currently living in Summerside and travelling to Royalty Centre will love the change. However, he said staff believes the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. He said administration has received some complaints about the move from students. He said he understands accommodation is an issue for some students, so administration is working with student services to see what can be done to help them. McMillan added it's hard to say what will happen to Royalty Centre in the future. "There won't be as many programs there, but we still have all our technology programs. So, I think at some point in time, we'll have to make a decision as to what's going to serve the best interests of the overall college," he said. "And by saying that, if we end up with a project whereby there's a chance to relocate other programs -- to give them new facilities and resources -- we would probably take advantage of that."
He said the empty space these upcoming moves will create at Royalty Centre will not likely be filled by new programs. "It could be rented out to other parties, but I don't think the college is planning any expansion of programs out there," he said, adding bodies such as the provincial government could rent space at the centre for their own purposes. "But if there is extra classroom space, that can be used by programs out there." "I don't think I can say it's the end and I can't say it's the beginning (of Royalty Centre)," he said. "Setting up this new aviation center was seen as a positive move, and so if we have other opportunities to upgrade and to provide new facilities for our programs, we would have to take a look at those plans very carefully. Royalty Centre's a pretty old building. It's not the greatest facility."
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